North Fork Bench Fire Lookout

Built 1936 – Gone by 1955

North Fork Bench was constructed in 1936 and had a L-4 cab.  By 1955 records indicate the lookout was no longer there.  This lookout was located 15 miles southeast of Darrington or just northeast of Bedal Campground going up towards Spring Mountain.

North Mountain Fire Lookout

Built 1966 – Still Standing

I North Mountain Fire Lookout is relatively young  being built just back in 1966.  This lookout started as so many did being a tent camp with a fire-finder back in 1962.  In 1966 the new lookout with an R-6 flat top cab perched high on a 41 foot tower was completed.  This was a good choice for locating a lookout with far reaching views in all directions.

At one time just about every major mountain peat had a fire lookout keeping watch over surrounding forest, either through human negligence, lightning strikes and fires or purposely being destroyed few remain today but the legacy they have left behind is timeless.  The North Mountain Fire Lookout, unlike most other lookouts remained active clear into the 1980s.  When it was abandoned being easily accessed by road became a party spot and plagued with vandalism.  When it seemed it’s future had no hope, a group formed to save it, Friends of North Mountain, a division of Darrington Strong.  The dream is to restore this heritage building and offer it as a very special vacation rental.

North Mountain Fire Lookout is just about 12 miles north of Darrington atop North Mountain.

Mount Pilchuck Fire Lookout

Built 1921 – Still Standing

Mount Pilchuck Fire Lookout was first built as a D-6 cupola cabin in 1921.  Later the cabin was removed and a L-4 cab was built on the same spot in 1938.  It was last staffed in the 1960’s and abandoned.  In the 1990’s it was added to the list on the National Historic Lookout Register.  The lookout is located on Mt. Pilchuck at an elevation of 5,324 feet, 8 miles east of Granite Falls.  This peak is most west of the North Cascades and can be seen clear from the Puget Sound.  Today you can hike the Forest Service Mount Pilchuck Trail #700 to the lookout, a lenth of 3 miles.

Red Ridge Fire Lookout sometimes called Red Mountain Fire Lookout

Built 1936 – Destroyed 1967

Red Ridge Fire Lookout was built in 1936 and had a L-4 cab.  This lookout was a lower elevation lookout to be able to survey the forest under high cloud cover.  The cab was built right on the ridge at an elevation of 2,800 feet, located 8 miles southwest of Glacier Peak, east of the Sloan Creek Campground.  You can hike out the the old lookout site on the Red Mountain Trail #651 today.  The lookout was later destroyed by the Forest Service in 1967.

Rinker Point Fire Lookout

Built 1935 – Destroyed 1965

Rinker Point Fire Lookout was located about 10 miles north of Darrington on Rinker Point, elevation 3,090 feet.  It was built in 1935 and was a 30 foot pole tower and L-4 cab.  At one time the old road went right up to the lookout, the road over time was little used and became referred to as Rinker Lookout Trail.  Fire Lookouts originally built for spotting forest fires were during times of war used for Aircraft Warning Service, spotting enemy aircraft.  Men serving for this stayed at their lookouts year round.  During 1943 a shed was built at Rinker for sleeping quarters and handle additional supplies and Rinker began serving as an AWS station.

The lookout was destroyed in 1965.  In the 1980s logging made the old road to the lookout pretty hard to follow, however some still hike to the old site following the old road northwest of Texas Pond.

Sauk R.S. Fire Lookout

Built 1918 – Abandoned 1930s

You can’t really say this lookout was constructed in a certain year as it has been growing for hundreds of years.  This ancient cedar tree at an elevation of about 1,000 feet was adapted to serve as a fire lookout in 1918 by driving spikes in the tree to serve as steps and a crows nest atop the tree so one could look out over the surrounding forest.  The lookout was abandoned in the 1930s.  You hike out to the old tree, now an ancient snag in the woods and still very impressive, on the Lookout Tree Trail #783.1.

Three Finger Fire Lookout

Built 1931 – Abandoned 1942 – Restored 1980s – Still Standing

Three Fingers Fire Lookout was constructed in 1931, this gabled L-4 cab perched on a high spire of Three Fingers Mountain.  Harry Tucker was the last lookout man at the of his season in 1942, he secured the shutters and bolted the door unaware that “his” lookout was retiring.  It sat for almost 30 years abandoned, then in the 1980s this famous lookout found new life thanks to the Forest Fire Lookout Association and Mountaineers.  The lookout was restored and is now listed on the National Historic Lookout Register.

The lookout is at an elevation of 6,854 feet.  On September 25, 1929 Harry Bedal and Harold Engles stuffed sandwiches in their pockets and set out to go have a look at that mountain, (Three Fingers Mountain).  Harold had his eye Three Fingers for quite awhile for a lookout spot, you could see this mountain from several different directions so there had to be quit the view from that tall spire.  By June of 1930 work had begun on trail work and packing in supplies to build a legendary fire lookout.

White Chuck Bench Fire Lookout

Built 1935 – Abandoned – Sold 1955

White Chuck Bench Fire Lookout was a lower elevation lookout, at an elevation of 1,225 feet, and able to see out under the cloud cover.  It was built in 1935 with a 20 foot pole tower and L-4 cab atop.  This was a drive-in easily accessed lookout used mostly as a training facility.  In 1955 the lookout was sold for salvage to a private party wishing to build a vacation cabin in the Bedal area off of the Mountain Loop Highway.

The White Chuck Bench Fire Lookout was located about 11 miles southeast of Darrington near the White Chuck Bench Trail #731,where the rock pit is today

White Chuck Fire Lookout

Built 1930s – Abandoned 1950s

White Chuck Fire Lookout was built some time in the 1930s and was a stone platform with a fire-finder and “Rag House”, a tent camp.  There are limited records for this lookout but records do indicate it was not in operation in the mid 1950s.  This lookout was located 9 miles east southeast of Darrington on White Chuck Mountain, elevation 6,989 feet.  Today there is a scenic forest road drive to the base of White Chuck Peak where the popular White Chuck Ridge User Trail and climbing routes to the summit.

White Creek Fire Lookout

Built 1920s – Abandoned mid- 1930s

White Creek Fire Lookout was the lowest elevation lookout in the area at an elevation of only 600 feet, with the exception of the Darrington Fire Lookout built as a training station right in town at an elevation of 556 feet. This was a simple “Rag House” lookout with a tent and fire finder located 10 miles north of Darrington upstream of White Creek which crosses SR 530 N.E.  The lookout went into operations sometime in the 1920s, by the mid 1930s, there are no records of the lookout.